


Nightfall

by tonikaku



Series: Waking Up [3]
Category: No. 6 - Asano Atsuko
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 04:59:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/606069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonikaku/pseuds/tonikaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nezumi and Shion under a tree, talking a bit and preparing for the night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightfall

The sun was shining brightly, no clouds preventing its rays from touching the earth, and a light breeze washed over an ancient tree. The rustles of its leaves touched two pairs of ears below.

“It’s quiet”, Shion murmured.

“It is”, Nezumi answered, “but why state the obvious?”

Shion smiled and, shielding his eyes from the sun, looked into the bright blue sky. “Don’t you sometimes feel like saying something when it gets too quiet? I couldn’t think of much else.”

Nezumi’s sigh merged with the rustle of leaves. I never did manage to stop this, he thought. In the end, though, it might not have been for the worse.

“It wasn’t. Actually, I like your sighs. And I like your face when you sigh.” Shion laughed and added: “But I like your face no matter what you do.”

“Even when I kill people?”

“You haven’t killed anyone in a pretty long time, though.”

“True. But you’re avoiding my question.”

“Nezumi.”

Shion turned to face Nezumi. No matter how many years had passed, he never found any other words for Nezumi’s face than “beautiful”. No, not true, he thought; there’s “gorgeous”, “stunning”, “elegant”, “striking”, “dazzling” – 

“Who thought it would be a good idea to give you access to a thesaurus?” Nezumi turned his head upwards to where Shion was blushing. “You’re thinking too loudly, someone on the other end of the sea might overhear.”

“To be honest, I’m not sure I’d mind. It’s all the truth, after all!” Still slightly red around the nose, Shion leaned down and kissed Nezumi lightly on the left eye. “Your eyes are like the most beautiful flower bouquet shining as if the brightest stars of the night sky themselves are nesting in them –“

“– Shion –“

Shion let his lips ghost over Nezumi’s right eye, careful not to hurt the fragile scar tissue, then continued to the nose, “ – your nose is delicate as the feathers of a swan – “

“ – Shion –“

“ – your forehead more sophisticated than Shakespeare himself – “

“ – Shion –“

“ – your lips sweeter than cherry pie…”

They kissed under the bright sun while the shadows grew longer and the breeze picked up; some leaves, too weak already to hold on to their branches, flew up into the air, dancing for only the sun to watch. Autumn was approaching, and approaching fast. Here and there, fields were ripe with corn, feeding hundreds, thousands of birds. Pears and other fruit weighed heavily on sturdy trees, providing food for those who felt they did not want to feast on corn. A fox carried a lifeless squirrel in his fangs to feed his young ones.

“There was something you wanted to say?”, Shion asked, leaning his forehead against Nezumi’s, a bit lightheaded from the kiss and unwilling to part from him so fast.

“Your poetry is atrocious. I thought I had taught you better than that.”

“That wasn’t supposed to be poetry. You’re enough poetry on your own to satisfy the whole world.”

Nezumi touched his hand lightly to Shion’s neck. If it was trembling, neither of them noticed, lost in each other’s presence. “You are the whole world, Shion, have you not realized?” 

They both broke into a light-hearted laughter; indeed, Shion thought, I am the world for you, as you are the world for me. We are the world. Again they kissed, driven by a sense of urgency that is so prominent in late summer when preparations for winter have begun and there is no time to enjoy the last rays of the sun that still warm the air.

When they parted, the sun, ruby red, was on its way below the horizon, to shine onto the other side of the ocean. 

“What does it look like today?”, Nezumi asked quietly, patiently letting Shion play with his withered hands. 

“Red”, Shion said, “very red. And big. How come your hands are still more beautiful than mine?”

“Don’t derail.”

“Sorry. It’s big and red and getting bigger and redder every day.”

“The crops won’t last another year.”

“Probably neither will the trees.”

“So bad, huh.”

“So bad, yes.” Shion laced his own smooth fingers through Nezumi’s wrinkled ones. “Do you think my hands would become as beautiful as yours if I aged?”

“You are ageing”, Nezumi countered, “just more slowly than I am.”

“I looked into the mirror yesterday. Not much change from when we took that last picture.”

“You don’t have to do this.” Nezumi’s grip on Shion’s hands became harder. Shion stroked his thumb back and forth, as if soothing a frightened animal.

“You’re doing it, aren’t you?”

“I’m tired.”

“Me too.”

“Let’s dance.”

Shion opened his mouth as if to protest – your body, are you sure? – but then he thought better of it and slowly, carefully lifted Nezumi out of his wheelchair, holding him tight at the waist lest he should fall. Nezumi gripped his shoulder with his left hand, caught his other with his right and laid his head against Shion’s neck.

“Do you remember how I taught you to dance?”

“How could I ever forget! I had never danced before in my life and you made it look so easy… But in the end, I was so beat!”

Nezumi chuckled. “You may lead today, Your Highness. I trust you know the steps?”

“Leave it to me!” 

They danced, steadily growing closer to each other, until the sun had fully sunken beneath the sea and darkness engulfed them. It was a new moon; the stars, although bright, could not light the night enough to discern single branches of the ancient tree.

“Nezumi.”

“Present.”

“Let’s lie down.”

The wind had stopped. The only sound that disturbed the night was the grass that whispered underneath their bodies as they tried to get as close together as possible. Shion shivered.

“Are you scared, after all?”

“Scared, yes. Of waking up on the other side, if there is one, and you not being close to me.”

“One might think you would have changed, but you still talk the same nonsense as back then.”

“Stop making fun of me!”

“I’m not making fun of you. Shion, don’t you remember?

“Remember what?”

Nezumi sighed – Shion smiled – and caressed the snake scar. “I asked something impossible of you, hoping against better judgement that maybe, maybe it could work – and here you are, still the same airhead as before. I’m quite proud of you.”

Shion shivered again and burrowed his face in Nezumi’s neck. “Then, can I ask something of you, too?”

“Contrary to popular belief, I am not an expert in dying. How should I know what happens to us other than the fact that our bodies will slowly decompose or, what is more likely, feed some animals here?”

Shion tightened his hold around Nezumi’s waist.

“Fine”, Nezumi sighed. “In case there is any such thing as ‘the other side’, and in the unlikely case that we are separated, I will go looking for you. There.”

“Thank you”, Shion whispered. “I don’t know how I’d survive death without you. Uh. I mean –“

Nezumi’s laughter brightened the darkness of the night around them. Idiot, he thought. I wouldn’t know how to deal with death without you, either.

They kissed again. It was a hot, tender, yet passionate kiss. When they parted, Shion smiled. There was no need for clarification this time.

“Sing for us, Nezumi. One last time.”

And Nezumi sang. 

 

 

\------

The sun, bright and golden in the morning, reached down with its rays; there was a young man to wake. Had the sun known about the concept of human tears, it might have shown restrain; but as it was, it did not know such thing, and showed no mercy.

Shion blinked his eyes open, slowly because of the wetness that stuck to them.

**Author's Note:**

> The sun is borrowed from Orwell. Of course, I don't know how it would actually look like.
> 
> About Shion's body not ageing, I imagined that if the bees make bodies age very fast, surviving the bees might make the body age almost innoticeably. Also, Nezumi is special and therefore ages very slowly, too.


End file.
